Chancellor James B. Millikenhttp://www1.cuny.edu/sites/news-chancellor
http://www.cuny.edu/chancellorThu, 10 May 2018 15:14:38 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.5Chancellor Milliken’s Remarks at the Board of Trustees Meeting, Wednesday, May 9, 2018http://www1.cuny.edu/sites/news-chancellor/2018/05/chancellor-millikens-remarks-at-the-board-of-trustees-meeting-wednesday-may-9-2018/
Thu, 10 May 2018 15:14:38 +0000http://www1.cuny.edu/sites/news-chancellor/?p=635First, I want to thank the chair for his gracious remarks earlier and all of you for your kind response. Second, I want to congratulate the board on the wise action naming my colleague University provost Vita Rabinowitz as Interim Chancellor. No one cares more about CUNY’s students and faculty, no one has devoted more intellect and energy to improving CUNY’s policies and programs and there is no one who I would trust more with this important assignment.

Finally, I want to share a few personal comments.

Thirty years ago, I left a comfortable law practice in New York to embark on a new career in higher education. It was a sometimes difficult and certainly not seamless transition, but taking that road has made all the difference. It eventually brought me back to New York to serve as Chancellor of this incomparable institution. No one in this room has to ask what’s special about CUNY. We are all reminded every day that the students we serve give New York City much of its talent, creativity and vitality.

Here’s our challenge: Although talent is distributed equally, without regard to demographic distinctions or socioeconomic strata, opportunity is still stubbornly highly correlated with wealth. The difference maker in the largest city in the country – now recognized as the nation’s greatest engine of social and economic mobility – is CUNY. I have been lucky much of my life, but never so much as when I was given the opportunity to work with all of you to do the essential work of CUNY.

As I wind down this academic year, I will attend six commencements, to savor on my last days as Chancellor the outpouring of emotion from students and their families, the sense of pride and accomplishment – and possibility –that fills the rooms, and the deep satisfaction and genuine happiness of the faculty who help make it possible. I am grateful for the chance of a lifetime—one not many people get—to do work I love and affect the lives of so many. Thank you to the Board of Trustees, to my colleagues and partners—the presidents and senior CUNY leadership – to the outstanding, committed faculty and especially to the students who inspire all of us every day, for making the last four years such an incredibly rewarding experience.

]]>Chancellor Milliken’s Remarks at the Board of Trustees Meeting, Monday, March 19, 2018http://www1.cuny.edu/sites/news-chancellor/2018/03/chancellor-millikens-remarks-at-the-board-of-trustees-meeting-monday-march-19-2018/
Tue, 20 Mar 2018 15:09:14 +0000http://www1.cuny.edu/sites/news-chancellor/?p=629Thank you Chairman Thompson and good evening Trustees, colleagues and guests. This is, of course, a busy and somewhat anxious time as we navigate the state budget process, which is moving toward its conclusion in just a few weeks. We are engaged with the Governor’s Office, the Assembly and the Senate in our advocacy of the request adopted by the Board of Trustees that advances CUNY’s indispensable mission.

Overall, there is much positive on that front. The governor’s executive budget was favorable for CUNY, his Excelsior scholarship program is a big help, and support for our mandatory expenses and the investment in critical maintenance is very positive.

There are also positive elements in the “one house” bills from each legislative chamber, as you know from my communications with the board. The Assembly and Senate are both recommending a $100 per student full-time equivalent increase in the base aid for community colleges. That would generate an additional $6.3 million for our seven institutions.

For the senior colleges, the Senate and Assembly proposals each include additional funds for operating support. And on capital, both houses propose additional funds, the Assembly for strategic initiatives and the Senate for additional critical maintenance.

The State of New York’s investment has never been more critical, and we appreciate the leadership of the Governor, as well as the Assembly and Senate. This is especially true when taking stock of the actions and debate at the federal level. One need look no further than this morning’s lead editorial in The New York Times, which complained about the federal Education Department’s policies on student loan collection practices. A new policy statement appears to make it more difficult for states to institute measures that protect student borrowers and prevent deceptive loan collection practices. It is a critical issue and much is at stake, given that there is currently about $1.4 trillion in outstanding student debt and some are seeing their career prospects damaged by tough payback terms.

As the states, such as New York, resist federal efforts, CUNY provides a critical path: not only do we have among the lowest tuition rates in the country for a major university, more than 60 percent of our students pay no tuition because, coming from low income households, they receive substantial state and federal support. And the vast majority do not take out federal loans.

As you know well, a critical battle is underway to persuade Congress to continue the DACA program for undocumented immigrants brought to this country as children. These Dreamers, as they are known, have found a welcoming home at CUNY. We have thousands of DACA students and they are among the most disciplined, hardest-working and talented at our colleges. They are exactly the kinds of people we should want as our colleagues, neighbors, friends and leaders.

Finally, I am deeply concerned about the legislation reauthorizing the Higher Education Act, which was approved by the House Committee on Education and Workforce in December. New conditions included in this legislation, known as the PROSPER Act, would have a terrible impact on CUNY by eliminating student grants from the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program, worth millions of dollars in support for needy students. Also, proposed changes in the funding formula for the Federal Work-Study program would hit CUNY students harder than any other university system in the entire country. The loss could be devastating, especially to graduate students. We have made sure that legislative leaders and the New York delegation understand how important these issues are to CUNY and New York.

Our arguments for adequate funding are made much stronger by the many successes we are realizing from implementing the university’s plans and marketing the university to prospective students. CUNY’s freshman applications have been rising in recent years and remain remarkably strong. And today, applications are up 8 percent for the coming fall, compared with this time last year, and last year we were at a record level and enrolled 38,000 students.

I am pleased to report that this success is possible, in part, because our admissions and enrollment operations are functioning much more efficiently and smoothly. When compared to this time last year, the office has processed more than 13 percent more freshman applications and about 29 percent more transfer applications. That represents excellent improvement in this department, overseen by Senior Vice Chancellor Sapienza.

You’ve heard me before discuss the exceptional improvements in performance we are enjoying due to the implementation of our strategic plans. At the last meeting you heard a presentation on the substantial early achievements from our completion initiatives at each campus. We should all take great pride in the consistent increases in our graduation rates, which are moving steadily toward our longer term objectives. The great beneficiaries of this performance are, of course, our students, who are graduating sooner and enjoying the life-changing benefits that a high quality college degree can bring.

Today, you will hear why we are very optimistic about the planning and implementation of programs for expanding workplace preparation and career placement initiatives. Angie Kamath, the indefatigable leader of these efforts, will provide an overview of the excellent work being done in sharply increasing paid internships in the most promising sectors of our economy, in building wide, two-way avenues of communication with big employers, which ensures our students are being trained in the skills they require, and making our graduates more competitive in winning the best-paid jobs and succeeding in their careers. What is particularly heartening is that we are just getting started. More progress is to come.

Thank you.

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]]>CUNY CHANCELLOR MILLIKEN TESTIFIES AT JOINT LEGISLATIVE HEARING ON STATE EXECUTIVE BUDGET PROPOSALhttp://www1.cuny.edu/sites/news-chancellor/2018/01/cuny-chancellor-milliken-testifies-at-joint-legislative-hearing-on-state-executive-budget-proposal/
Tue, 23 Jan 2018 21:13:42 +0000http://www1.cuny.edu/sites/news-chancellor/?p=621Citing “the many reasons for our excitement and optimism at CUNY,” Chancellor James B. Millikentestified today at the Joint Senate and Assembly public hearing in Albany on Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s 2018 – 2019 State Executive Budget proposal. With nationally known economists finding that CUNY is “an unsurpassed engine of social mobility, lifting almost six times as many lower-income students to the middle class and beyond” as the Ivy League colleges plus Duke, MIT, Stanford and Chicago combined, he said, “New York has much to be proud of.”

The Chancellor welcomed the governor’s proposed $70 million increase for CUNY’s senior colleges for mandatory fringe benefit increases, the continuing deployment of free online textbooks and course materials and more; and the $118 million to cover the expansion of the family income threshold for state Excelsior Scholarships to $110,000 for the 2018-2019 school year.

He praised the governor’s proposal to enact a New York State DREAM Act, “which would extend financial aid to CUNY’s many undocumented students, a well-deserving group that brings ambition, talent and hard work to our campuses and our state.” Since 2015 CUNY has partnered with the philanthropic TheDream.US foundation to offer scholarships to 775 DREAMers. More than 90 percent remained in college, he said, “higher than comparable numbers for their American citizen classmates” and last year 70 percent of the 474 enrolled scholarship winners had cumulative GPAs of 3.0 or higher. Arguing for a state DREAM Act, he added that DREAMer graduates “do the jobs that make our city and state work in health care, finance, IT and the legal profession.”

The Chancellor said he was pleased with the $284 million proposed for critical maintenance at CUNY’s senior colleges and the $49 million in matching funds for work at the seven community colleges. With 272,000 degree students and more than 250,000 in continuing education and professional studies, “our 24 institutions are open seven days a week, with classes scheduled throughout the day and most evenings. … There are 40,000 more CUNY students using our facilities today than a decade ago … the equivalent of adding a university about the size of the University of Michigan.”

He thanked the governor and the Legislature for their continuing support of The City University of New York, “especially your support for CUNY’s historic mission of accessibility, inclusion and high quality.” That, he added, “is a good part of what makes me optimistic about the future of what we unabashedly call ‘the greatest urban university in the world.’”

The City University of New York is the nation’s leading urban public university. Founded in 1847, CUNY counts 13 Nobel Prize and 23 MacArthur (“Genius”) grant winners among its alumni. CUNY students, alumni and faculty have garnered scores of other prestigious honors over the years in recognition of historic contributions to the advancement of the sciences, business, the arts and myriad other fields. The University comprises 24 institutions: 11 senior colleges, seven community colleges, William E. Macaulay Honors College at CUNY, CUNY Graduate Center, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, CUNY School of Law, CUNY School of Professional Studies and CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy. The University serves more than 272,000 degree-seeking students. CUNY offers online baccalaureate and master’s degrees through the School of Professional Studies.

“We applaud the important increased investment in CUNY’s operations, as well as the continued commitment to critical maintenance. By raising the income-eligibility cap for the Excelsior Scholarship, and including legislation to launch the DREAM Act, Governor Cuomo’s budget affords hope and opportunity by moving us closer to a future in which quality higher education is accessible to all low- and middle-income New Yorkers at no cost.”

Today we commemorate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a true American hero whose impassioned leadership in the struggles for racial equality, social and economic justice, inclusion and opportunity helped define the conscience of a nation. And while it is altogether fitting that we celebrate his extraordinary contributions, it is striking and most unfortunate that his teaching continues to be in some ways as urgent and essential as it was half a century ago.

We recognize the goals Dr. King passionately articulated and relentlessly pursued as bedrock American values. They represent values we cherish at The City University of New York, and we hope they guide our actions every day. CUNY is a nationally recognized engine of opportunity, social mobility, and inclusion, and has long provided the pathway for educational and economic success for immigrants, low income and underrepresented students on a grand scale. CUNY’s leadership in the fight for Dreamers is a critical and unfortunately necessary example of our ongoing work in furtherance of the values our community shares.

Nearly 50 years ago, in his commencement address to the graduates of The City College of New York, Dr. King spoke of the nation’s racial and economic gaps, but insisted that Americans were tied together in “a single garment of destiny.” That message resonates today as we pursue the unfinished work that Dr. King gave his life to lead, and challenges us to live up to the timeless values he set forth.

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]]>STATEMENT FROM CUNY CHANCELLOR JAMES B. MILLIKEN ON GOVERNOR CUOMO’S STATE OF THE STATE MESSAGE http://www1.cuny.edu/sites/news-chancellor/2018/01/statement-from-cuny-chancellor-james-b-milliken-on-governor-cuomos-state-of-the-state-message/
Wed, 03 Jan 2018 20:42:48 +0000http://www1.cuny.edu/sites/news-chancellor/?p=610“We applaud Governor Cuomo’s plan to invest in food pantries on all public university campuses. CUNY has been a leader in addressing food insecurity on campus and runs pantries on more than half of our 24 campuses, including at six of our seven community colleges. Research conducted by the CUNY School of Public Health and Health Policy indicates that almost 15 percent of our students—28,430 young women and men—go hungry at some point because they can’t afford to buy enough food. CUNY’s research found that food-insecure students have lower grade-point averages and are far more likely to take leaves of absence than comparable well-fed students.

“This new investment will make a critical difference for our students, as has the Excelsior Scholarship program. By enabling eligible students to attend CUNY tuition-free, the Excelsior Scholarship has played a significant role in the increases in applications, enrollment and credit-taking that we have seen since the program’s introduction.”

During the past year, The City University of New York has conducted a thorough search for a new president of The City College of New York. I am very grateful to Chairperson Schwartz and the members of the search committee, who devoted considerable time and effort to the recruitment and review of candidates. After conducting interviews and reviewing the many comments from those involved in the process, I continued to consult with the search committee as well as with the additional faculty and academic administrators involved before reaching a decision on my recommendation to the Board of Trustees. I am deeply appreciative of the thoughtful contributions from the committee, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and members of the community, which have helped lead to this decision—one that I am convinced is clearly in the best interests of the College.

At today’s meeting of the Board of Trustees, I recommended that the Board appoint Dr. Vincent Boudreau, a respected member of the City College community for 26 years, as the next president of The City College of New York, and the Board approved that recommendation. My work with Dr. Boudreau over the last year, and the support he received from faculty, students, staff, alumni, and the community provide compelling evidence that he is the right leader to preside at this important time in City College’s history, with a vigorous commitment to its mission, a deep knowledge of its academic and social traditions and a spirit of unwavering integrity.

Since November 2, 2016, Dr. Boudreau has been serving as interim president of City College, and he has done an outstanding job of bringing transparency and integrity to the leadership of CCNY. Dr. Boudreau held open discussions on the budget and fiscal challenges facing CCNY with candor, honesty and a necessary sense of urgency, he made critical changes in processes and personnel, and he led the campus in important conversations about its future priorities and direction. As Interim President, Dr. Boudreau restored a sense of stability while soliciting and respecting the interests of the College’s stakeholders.

Dr. Boudreau has embraced fully the University efforts to increase fiscal oversight and improve transparency and accountability. Despite the obvious limitations on the authority of any interim leader to make permanent changes and to implement a vision for the future, Dr. Boudreau aggressively advocated for City College and has taken many important steps to advance its fundamental interests. He is an accomplished scholar in the field of democratic movements in Southeast Asia, and he has been a creative and vigorous leader in guiding the College’s outstanding Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership. He is passionate about City College, the success of its students and supporting the professional aspirations of its faculty.

It became clear to me that Dr. Boudreau not only has the experience, academic capabilities and leadership skills to be a highly successful president, he has demonstrated this to many of the stakeholders of the College, including the college’s proud and committed alumni, donors and community leaders. In the process, he has won their trust and confidence. I am delighted and encouraged that our search has brought us back home to a candidate who has established over decades his commitment to CCNY.

Dr. Boudreau started his career at CCNY in 1991 as an assistant professor, two years before receiving his PhD from Cornell University in Comparative Politics and International Relations. Recognition of his role as a mentor and leader came swiftly. He was named Director of the College’s Master’s Program in International Relations in 1992. In 1999, he was appointed the Director of the International Studies Program and, just a year later, was made Deputy Dean of the Division of Social Sciences, when he was also made an Associate Professor.

A year after that he became Chair of the College’s Department of Political Science, and then in March, 2002, was appointed Director of what was then known as the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies. A full professorship followed, in 2007, and then Dr. Boudreau was appointed the Dean of the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, a highly respected school named for an outstanding CCNY alumnus, former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Finally, he has served the last year as Interim President with energy, passion and grace.

It gives me great pleasure to see Dr. Vincent Boudreau named president of The City College of New York. I look forward to his leadership with great enthusiasm, expectation and confidence.

Sincerely,

James B. Milliken

Chancellor

The City University of New York

]]>NEWS FROM CHANCELLOR ABOUT NEW VICE CHANCELLOR FOR UNIVERSITY DEVELOPMENT.http://www1.cuny.edu/sites/news-chancellor/2017/12/news-from-cuny-chancellor-milliken/
Tue, 05 Dec 2017 00:04:02 +0000http://www1.cuny.edu/sites/news-chancellor/?p=605Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The recruitment of the first Vice Chancellor for University Advancement is a critical step in our ongoing efforts to build a CUNY-wide advancement operation, essential to significantly increasing the University’s effectiveness in private fundraising and ensuring the success of our students, faculty and academic programs. During the past year, The City University of New York has conducted a thorough search for a newly created position of Vice Chancellor for University Advancement, and I am grateful to the members of the search committee who worked diligently to identify and interview top candidates for this important position.

I’m very pleased to announce that following my recommendation, the Board of Trustees has named Brigette A. Bryant as CUNY’s first Vice Chancellor for University Advancement. I believe that in Brigette Bryant we have attracted an accomplished leader with a proven track record who fully embraces CUNY’s mission and strategic vision. Ms. Bryant will work closely with the Chancellor, the Board of Trustees, donors, the college presidents and the senior advancement team throughout CUNY to increase the success of fundraising across the University, focusing on the expansion of major and principal gifts, alumni relations, annual funding, planned giving, as well as best practices in resource development systems and infrastructure.

Ms. Bryant is currently Associate Vice President for Development at Seton Hall University and formerly held top fundraising jobs at Tufts University and Case Western Reserve University, as well as other development positions in higher education including at Columbia University. Ms. Bryant earned a Bachelor of Music in Music Production and Engineering from Berklee College of Music.

At Seton Hall, Ms. Bryant more than doubled contributions and increased the number of donors dramatically. At Case Western Reserve, she also stepped into a newly created position, expanding a centralized fundraising team while unifying school-based fundraisers under a single university umbrella, and she managed her own portfolio, leading to a number of principal gifts. At Tufts, she led an alumni campaign, increasing substantially the number of major gift donors and significantly raising the giving levels of existing donors.

Ms. Bryant’s interest in CUNY is personal as well as professional. A New Yorker by birth, she grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and watched her single mother work hard to balance college, work and the care of her two children. Her mother graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice just two years shy of Ms. Bryant’s own graduation from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and the Arts. With gratitude to CUNY and recognition of its essential mission, Ms. Bryant is strongly committed to providing access and opportunity to other NYC students.

Please join me in congratulating Ms. Bryant on her new position and in welcoming her to the CUNY community.

I write to share with you the news that I plan to step down as Chancellor of The City University of New York at the end of this academic year, after four years at the helm of this most remarkable institution.

CUNY is an extraordinary university, and my time here has been rewarding beyond measure. The world now knows, from groundbreaking research on an unprecedented scale, that CUNY is the greatest engine of social and economic mobility in the country. I have been enormously fortunate to be part of expanding opportunity and success to students on a scale no other university can match, and I will always be grateful for that. Our students, over 500,000 of them, are smart, ambitious, hard-working and wonderfully diverse. Our 45,000 outstanding faculty and staff work very hard under sometimes difficult conditions, with inspiring results. I love our students and I have tremendous respect for our faculty and staff. I have been inspired by them every day.

We have accomplished much over the last few years. Our community colleges are on track to double their graduation rates, making them national leaders. We have launched a new school of medicine, almost certainly the most diverse in the country, and a successful independent school of public health. We put in place exciting new initiatives to diversify the arts institutions in New York, provide groundbreaking comprehensive support for foster youth, increase women and minorities in tech, and much more. I had the opportunity to select 12 talented, new campus heads – one half of the total CUNY campus leadership – eight of whom are women and people of color. We have launched a comprehensive administrative excellence initiative and multiyear budgeting to improve performance and invest more resources in our classrooms. Most important was the development of our strategic plan, “Connected CUNY,” which will continue to chart the essential course for CUNY because its logic, conceptual pillars and specific strategies are key to advancing CUNY’s mission in this century, although of course it will no doubt be improved upon.

So why leave now?

On a personal level, the last year has been extraordinarily challenging. Days after my 60th birthday I was diagnosed with throat cancer and I underwent months of radiation and chemotherapy. Some additional health challenges have followed and will require my attention in the months ahead, but thankfully my prognosis remains very good. My health problems – the first serious ones of my life – have been sobering, but today I feel healthy and much relieved because of the quality of the care I am receiving at Memorial Sloan Kettering. I expect to be active and working for many more years, but there is no denying that the last nine months have been draining physically and emotionally. The business about learning more about yourself and gaining new perspective when faced with such challenges has certainly proved to be the case with me. The experience has given me an even deeper commitment to enjoying fully my work, my family and friends, and my life.

The head of a major university like CUNY works closely with a board of trustees in developing and implementing a vision. Of the 17 trustees on the board that recruited and appointed me in January 2014, two remain today. The governor has appointed nine new members and the mayor four. These new trustees will have their own ideas about CUNY, and they should have the opportunity to help shape the leadership and agenda for the future. I have very much enjoyed working with the talented people who have served and who currently serve as CUNY trustees and I will always be grateful for the opportunity and support they have given me. During the last nine months, the trustees have been incredibly supportive of me personally, always demanding that I put my health and family first. They could not have been more gracious, and I could not be more thankful.

I am announcing my plans now so the board will have time to conduct a thorough search and have a new chancellor in place before the next academic year begins. In the meantime, I plan to spend the months ahead continuing to work closely with the board and campus leaders to implement the University’s strategic plans and complete the work we’ve had underway to reform many of CUNY’s long-standing policies and practices to improve financial oversight, internal controls, transparency and best practices.

I look forward to finishing my term with a few commencements, and I will leave the chancellorship with fresh memories of so many first-generation college-goers, immigrants, low-income and underrepresented students receiving their degrees in the presence of euphoric friends and family.

I have been given one of life’s great gifts – the chance to do something I love that has a positive impact on many. I will always be grateful for that opportunity and for the relationships I have had with the students, faculty and staff of The City University of New York.